CoAD Love
by badwolf-27
Summary: My own series of Torak/Renn drabbles. Will mostly be rated 'T'. Second chapter now up: 'She and Wolf were my guides during that time, she still is now and then. My rock during good and bad.'
1. Cloudberries

**So this is going to be where all of my CoAD side stories get put. There will be a whole range of stories, mainly revolving around Torak and Renn's relationship. I'll be putting 'specials' here too - like Christmas and Valentines specials etc. **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CoAD, I only own my writing.

**This chapter is a little snippit of Torak and Renn's lives in the new forest (spoilers for Ghost Hunter!). They're about 18 summers old in this chapter.**

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><p>Renn's favourite berries were cloudberries. Torak new this, as soon as he'd spotted a bush of them in the new forest over the mountains, he'd picked her some as a gift. Now though, two summers later, he thought that cloudberries might have to become his favourite berry too.<p>

It was a warm day, winter was finally turning into summer and Torak had abandoned his over parka, and simply wore his winter leggings and under-jerkin. He sat cross-legged with his sleeping sack on his lap, repairing the holes that Pebble had created a few nights ago when Torak had left his things unattended. That wolf still needed to learn who was lead in this pack. Renn sat across from him, closer to their shelter, with her back against a beech tree.

Her hair was tied up and, like him, she only wore her under-jerkin and leggings. Her pale arms stood out against the darker colour of the reindeer hide clothing. She caught his eye and smiled at him.

"I found a cloudberry patch." She said, showing him the bunch of berries that she cradled in her hand on a dock leaf. "Did you want some?"

Torak flicked his eyes from the food and back to the raven girl's face. He studied the blue-black tattoos that ran across her cheeks and the little moon bleed mark under them. Torak remembered back to when he'd been outcast and had seen her with the mood bleed marks for the first time, they made her look so much older. A woman, he thought.

His gaze moved to the little freckle at the corner of her mouth and he thought about the moment when, last moon, he'd kissed it. Renn had looked at him quizzically and he'd smiled, kissing her lips.

"Torak." Renn's voice pulled him away from his thoughts and he hissed through his teeth as his bone needle stabbed into skin.

He tried to hide his slip up. "Oh, uh. No, thank you."

Renn shrugged, quietly laughing and returned to her berries. Torak shot her a look and tried to focus on his work. He managed to repair all but two of the punctures before he looked up again. He nearly dropped his needle.

Renn was still in the same position as before but her hair was now loose around her face and shoulders. In her hands, she was down to the last few berries. As Torak watched, slender fingers took one of the small foods by its stem and lifted it towards moist, red lips. He swallowed the lump in his throat and couldn't turn his gaze away as the ridges parted and took the berry between them. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Renn's jaw worked slowly, squeezing out every drop of juice before the deflated flesh disappeared and was swallowed.

Torak was about to look away when he saw a drop of juice that had escaped her lips and was slipping down the side of her jaw. He expected Renn to wipe it away with the back of her hand. She didn't. With a slowness that he thought was unimaginable, it slid down one side of her smooth throat. As he watched, he resisted the urge to lick his lips. It finally stopped its trail at the hollow where her collarbones met. Torak remembered how to breathe.

Renn's jaw was moving again and after a moment, Torak realised that she was speaking. "…the first ones of the season are always sweet…" He wasn't listening as the last berry was sucked dry and swallowed. Another drop of juice followed the same path as the first, picking up where the other left off at the hollow of her throat. It slipped down past the hem of her jerking and into the mounds of flesh underneath. Renn made no move to clean herself and instead stood up, moving towards their shelter. Torak suppressed a growl, dropped his things and got up to step in front of her.

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><p>Renn adjusted herself against the tree as she ate her cloudberries. They'd been a good find, this early in the season. She put one in her mouth and smiled as the sweet food burst, covering her tongue in sugary liquid. Today though, the berries had a more important task than filling her stomach.<p>

Torak sat across from her, mending his sleeping sack with thread. He'd taken off his over-parker, like herself, and the muscles covering his broad shoulders and arms flexed and relaxed in a continuous rhythm as he worked the bone needle through the reindeer hide. His dark shoulder length hair hung freely and stirred around in the light breeze. Renn had to stop her thoughts wandering to memories of recent nights.

He felt her gaze and began to look up. Renn quickly looked away before meeting his eyes, to make it seem as if she hadn't been staring at all. She smiled and told him how she'd found a cloudberry patch. She offered him some, extending her hand to show him the small pile that sat on a dock leaf. Torak looked from the food to her face. His bright grey eyes searched her skin, moving from her cheeks to her mouth. She called his name and he started, jabbing the bone needle into his finger.

Torak hissed and tried to cover it up by telling her that he didn't want any. Renn shrugged and laughed quietly. He shot her a look that she ignored, focusing back on her berries. When she looked again she was disappointed to see that Torak was back to sewing up his sleeping sack. Renn's lips set a line and she lifted one hand up to the rawhide strip that kept her hair up, pulling it loose, she saw dark red locks enter her peripheral vision. She settled back against the tree to wait. Though her hunger got the better of her and she began to eat the berries, she tried to pace herself, but by the time Torak glanced back up she was down to two.

It would have to do, she thought. Her loose hair had caught his interest and he didn't look away as she picked up one of the berries and bought it to her lips. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, emphasizing her pleasure. Slowly, she squeezed the juice from the berry and swallowed the drained flesh. By squeezing the berry between her lips, rather than in her mouth, she allowed a drop of juice to slip out of her mouth. Renn resisted the urge to wipe it away as it travelled down her chin and throat. It tickled where it settled at her hollow.

She didn't open her eyes, but began to talk in a low voice, telling Torak how the first berries of the season were always sweet. He didn't reply, so Renn started on her last berry. By subtly tilting her head she let the second drop of juice flow down the same path as the first, though this time it picked up the ruminants of the first, and with its extra weight, slipped down her chest and under her jerkin. Her hands ached to wipe at her skin, but she stopped herself. Torak still hadn't said anything, so she opened her eyes and got up, intending to walk over to their shelter, when he suddenly got to his feet and stepped in front of her.

Renn new the look on his face and, trying not to smile, she faked annoyance. "Torak, what are you-" The words left her mind as a rough, strong hands gently grasped the sides of her face, tilting her head back and exposing her neck. She gasped and grabbed Torak's shoulders as she felt his tongue at her throat, trailing up to her mouth and following the line of juice that the cloudberries had left. A moan escaped Renn's lips and she lent into him as his mouth found hers. She nibbled at his bottom lip, loving the taste and he opened his mouth to her. Renn deepened the kiss and Torak responded in kind, running his hand through her hair and settling the other at her lower back. Renn tugged at the hair on the back of his head as she leant up to get better access.

Torak broke away from her lips and Renn felt a jolting sensation as he kissed along her jaw line and up to her ear. "You taste like cloudberries." He said, voice deep and stirring.

"Nnn." Renn replied, not quite coherent. She felt her mate's breath on her neck as he whispered to her, "I like cloudberries."

Renn felt herself melting and decided to take back control of the situation before she lost all awareness. She rasped her nails at the back of Torak's neck and kissed up his neck to the base of his ear. He let out a moan and pulled her closer as she began to nibble at his lobe. Letting go of the skin for a moment, she breathed into his ear, "Well, it is only the _beginning_ of the season."

"Mmm, I think it's going to be a good season." Torak said into her hair. Renn moved back to his lips, kissing him deeply and reaching down to grasp one of his hands.

"Me too." She whispered, flashing him her sharp-toothed grin. Torak gave a laugh and Renn felt a rush of air as she was lifted from the ground. She wrapped her arms around Torak's neck, pressing her forehead against his, as he carried her to their shelter.

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><p><strong>Please R&amp;R! :) <strong>


	2. Valentines

**Hey guys, here's another chapter to my TxR mix. It's not really new, I'm just moving it of my dA account and on to here. Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own CoAD or it's characters, I own what I write. **

**Theme: Valentines**

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><p>It was interesting really, that she should come into my life at that exact point. At the time when everything began to change.<p>

It wasn't a good changing, but neither was it a bad one, just different from what I'd known before.

And before that day, when she caught me, I'd never seen much of other people. But as I said before, change.

Fa was gone, Wolf was new and it took me a while to decide that she was friend and not foe.

I think that first adventure we had was what affected my life the most, while the bear and Fa's death were life altering, she introduced me to the idea of a purpose beyond things like getting food or building a shelter.

The idea that I could change the world. Though it wasn't till the islands that I found out how exactly I should do that. She'll tell you about that next.

Anyway, what I also found in her was a fresh perspective on things I knew and also on things that I had never thought about or didn't understand.

She and Wolf were my guides during that time, she still is now and then. My rock during good and bad.

`He finished as a tear ran down his cheek at the thought of Wolf and a well known touch on his arm comforted him.`

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><p>I sometimes think that I should have shown him the idea of working together, before the idea that he could save the world, but then if I had, I suppose the first islands encounter wouldn't have happened the way it did.<p>

He got the impression that he had to do things on his own, a problem that has lasted a long time.

`She felt a nudge at her side.`

Hmm, well it was on this trip that he learned exactly what he was…after trying to find the cure on his own and ending up with the Seals, which wouldn't have been a problem if their mage hadn't been their too.

But these things happen, fate and blood meeting at one specific point, and he found out about spirit walking and the gift he had been given or the curse that had been laid upon him.

It was the first battle we had fought with a soul eater, we did it together. Not side by side, but still together.

I still only thought of him as a friend then, he still is my friend but there is more to it now. I also thought he was valuable to my clan and I wasn't going to let that go. My uncle and clan were all I had.

`She paused before her next account and carefully adjusted the sleeping form in her arms.`

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><p>The first time we travelled the ice was when we were still looking for the third piece of the Nanuak. It was a short harsh trip that wasn't nearly as bad as the next time we set out through the snow.<p>

That was when the soul eaters had captured Wolf and he asked me to go with him on his search. How could I not? Our friendship was growing and I was quite attached to Wolf too at the time.

I knew the risks, the ice had killed my Fa when I was small, but we set out anyway. He was so determined.

A few times I felt that he didn't realise I was a friend and he had a family with my uncle and I.

We both proved our courage during this. He fought with the ice bear and went into the soul eater's lair alone, and I was willing to give my life to destroy part of the fire opal for the good of the clans.

Each of us learnt more about each other and ourselves. I started to see him in a different light. And him me as well.

During these dangerous and difficult events I discovered something that I'd never thought I'd need before. It was deep in my heart that I realised what I hoped to have from him and with him. Young as I was at that point, I still knew within myself.

The feeling was only going to grow over time and I realised it when he was out cast.

I think it was some time during then that he realised too what I meant to him. Though with being out cast and the soul eaters still around, he had other things to worry about besides young affection.

`She smiled to herself and savoured the feeling caused by the hand playing with the hair that fell down her back.`

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><p>When he was out cast, it was the same emotions that took over when my Fa had died. The idea that the world was stealing the people I cared about and my hatred and frustration.<p>

I had to use my talents more than I would have liked from then on. I didn't mind when it was to save or help him, though I never enjoyed it like my mother. Something I'm glad of.

And so, as he became soul sick, Bale and I searched and searched. Coming across the Otters and it was very soon that my secret was to be revealed.

He found her first but it wasn't till later on that he was told that my mother was the soul eater. I understood his anger, but it hurt when we fought. Our argument seems so small in comparison to the bigger happenings of that night.

The flood wave and my mother's death, lightened slightly by Rip and Rek joining us.

But then there was celebration, people had been saved and he had been fostered into the Ravens. I still remember the feeling I got from his arm around my shoulders, the feeling that later turned into some kind of hunger.

`With a yawn, she indicated that her accounts were finished for the night and he took over.`

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><p>Well I had met the people of deep forest before, when I was trying to find a cure for the sickness, but I learned much more about them when we ventured into their secrets together.<p>

Her uncle accompanied us for a time but we fell into a trap and we had to go on with out him. Something we both found hard, but worry gnawed at her the most I think. I was too blindly focused on my own tasks.

Deeper and deeper into the darkness we went, missing the openness our own forest.

We stumbled right into a war and had to disguise ourselves, but eventually we ended up with the Red Deer, who were my mother's clan.

I learnt much about my kin from their leader, but not before I had defeated the mage of oaks. She was captured by him and imprisoned in the hollow tree that I had been born in.

Some kind of fate again I guess, that she was in there and not in the tree's contrasting twin. For in there, were the pegs my Fa had placed for climbing in and out.

I was angry at the time, Wolf had left and I was still blinded. The battle was of fire and black horses with Thiazzi's life being at an end after the eagle owl had taken its prize.

I went over to her then, with the guilt weighing on my shoulders. Seeing her there, skin showing on her neck I realised I had done wrong and knew that the protective feeling I had needed to grow.

I pulled her close, trying to shield her from the world for at least a moment. Then the humming by my side began, I looked up and saw it. I suddenly felt that I had done something good, something right.

Sometime later when were still in the deep forest she came and kissed me on my cheek. Save for my mother, who I couldn't remember, I had never felt the lips of a woman on my skin before and so I wasn't prepared for the fire that coursed through my body, nor the dazed feeling I felt for some time afterwards.

`He tried to hide a smile at his naivety and the thought of all the new sensations since then.`

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><p>When I turned fifteen summers old, her uncle kept separating us. Rarely letting us go on hunting trips alone together and things like that. He was just looking out for her I think, like the father that wasn't around anymore.<p>

I didn't really understand at the time, though I do now.

Wolf and Darkfur were still raising their cubs then, Click had died a moon before and Shadow soon joined him in the first tree after being struck by the eagle owl.

Pebble lived, though we didn't find that out till some time later. That cub had quite an adventure.

My blindness almost got her killed when we were struck by an ice storm. I had left without her you see and she followed knowingly.

We met up with an old friend of mine who had helped in the time of the bear. He helped us then too and we were soon on our way to the place of the last soul eater. Into the mountain range that divided the known forest from the unknown.

She injured herself before we got there and I had to leave her behind. Again.

Though before I left, I returned what she had given to me after I killed the Oak mage, a kiss. But not on her cheek, on her lips instead, as I'd wanted to do for a long while.

Afterwards, that sensation kept me warm in the cold.

I soon met Dark, the boy who was completely white. He became a good friend of ours and after the deed was done he took the place that she didn't want. To be mage of the Ravens, so that we could leave.

I died and then lived on that mountain. And I saw the unknown forest, finally understanding where I wanted to be.

After everything had calmed down and Dark knew his place, I asked her if she would come with me to the new forest and to wander for the rest of our days. She said yes and then a whole new part of our lives began.

`He stopped and ended the story.`

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><p>"But Fa! I want to hear about the new forest!"<p>

Torak looked down at his daughter, her thick hair was tied in a loose plait. In the firelight her clan tattoos stood out sharply against her pale skin. She was born in the new forest and so they had not named her as part of the old clans. Instead tattooing either of her cheeks with a small dark green tree, the same as on his mother's medicine horn.

"Well, you'll hear about that some other time, now you need to sleep. It's your brother's third birthday tomorrow." It was Renn that spoke this time, their son sleeping in her arms.

The young girl pouted, "When will I get to see the old forest and meet everyone?"

Torak chuckled, "So many demands." He placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair a little, "Soon. When you turn seven summers and your brother four summers. There will be a clan meet that winter and he (Torak nodded towards the small sleeping boy) will be old enough to travel over the mountains."

"But that's a whole summer and winter away!"

His daughter's lack of scale amused Torak. He was 25 summers old now, a summer and a winter didn't seem that long to him.

Soon Renn got up and put their son to bed and Torak eventually managed to persuade the young girl to do the same. Then the camp was silent, save for the crackling fire.

Torak and Renn sat together, her smaller form encased by his. She spoke after a while, "You know, I like this tradition."

"What tradition?" Torak asked, lazily tracing her arms.

"Of telling our story on the 14th sunset of the second moon. We did it last time too."

"We should do it every winter."

"Mmm, good." Renn's eyes drifted lower. Neither of them had realised how tiring raising a family would be without the help of a clan.

Though they didn't mind, all that mattered was that they were with each other on that night.

The night of lovers.


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